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The calf was named Ja-C, in honour of contributions of Jamaica and Cuba to the programme.
The calf was named Ja-C, in honour of contributions of Jamaica and Cuba to the programme.
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St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Tuesday saw the birth of a 72-pound calf conceived through artificial insemination.

The bovine was born to farmer Wayne Daniel of Orange Hill.

Daniel’s cow was the first of 30 cattle artificially inseminated under the Ministry’s of Agriculture’s Artificial Insemination programme.

The Artificial Insemination programme was initiated in 2015 and is aimed at developing and expanding the livestock sector here.

One hundred straws of cattle semen were donated by the Government of Jamaica. Among the breeds of cattle expected to be bred from the project are Jamaican Hope, Red Pol and Black Pol, all indigenous to Jamaica.

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“I want to congratulate my brother Wade for being the first famer to receive a calf. He was approached by the Ministry of Agriculture, just like other cattle farmers. He took the initiative very serious and today we are witnessing the birth of the first artificially inseminated calf,” said Minister of Agriculture, Saboto Caesar.

Caesar also encouraged all cattle farmers in SVG to look at the opportunities and possibilities created by exporting cattle to Grenada and other countries.

“We are going to embark on a very robust programme throughout 2016 so that we can have as many cows go through the process of artificial insemination. We are in the process of looking for different breeds of cattle…” the minister added.

Meanwhile, Daniel, a farmer in Guava, Orange Hill for over 35 years, said he was “very excited and happy”.

“This is a very good initiative the Ministry has undertaken and I am very proud to be the first farmer whose cow was the first to give birth under this artificial insemination programme,” Daniel said smiling.

The female calf was given the name, Ja-C, a symbol of the cooperation between Jamaica and Cuba on the artificial insemination initiative.

2 replies on “First calf born under artificial insemination initiative in St. Vincent”

  1. Red Poll cattle are an English breed and there is a UK Red Poll Society which was founded in 1888.
    http://www.redpoll.org/about-us/

    Red Poll Cattle were introduced from Britain to Jamaica in 1938. They most certainly are not indigenous to Jamaica as claimed in this article.

    The British Red Poll originated as a cross between Norfolk Red beef-type cattle and Suffolk Dun dairy cattle (both of these breeds are now extinct). The parent Suffolk breed was also polled; Norfolk cattle had horns, but the gene for horns was bred out in the Red Poll breed. The original name for the breed, adopted in 1863, was Norfolk and Suffolk Red Polled cattle, and the first standard description was agreed upon in 1873, with the first herd book compiled in 1874. The breed became the Red Polled in 1883, and then Red Poll in 1888, when the Red Poll Cattle Society was formed.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Poll

    The Red Poll has also performed well in Jamaica, originally as a dairy animal but later shifting to beef production. A small introduction of Zebu genetics has been introduced into these cattle. The Jamaica Red is very popular and successful on Jamaica.

    It is most doubtful that the cattle in Jamaica are pure Red Poll unlike the British who find the necessity to keep pure bred herds, the Jamaicans over the years have allowed or perhaps by intention introduced other breeds to the Red Poll blood line.

    If they are breeding for beef production there are much better choices in cattle. This is a duel purpose cattle, milk and beef production.

  2. C. ben-David says:

    Let us pray that Pastor Nigel Morgan does not undertake to sacrifice this first-born calf to one of his Hougan spirits to purge all his earthly enemies of their wickedness.

    In an earlier post I wrongly referred to the sacrifice of a fowl to obtain its cleansing blood; I really meant cock [(rooster] because it is the male of the chicken species that actually carries this power, at least according to those among us who still believe in the power of Obeah/Voodoo, our true ancestral belief system that was capriciously condemned and outlawed by our white slave master ancestors so as to better control our minds.

    Those who would condemn me for allegedly mocking our past or present belief systems, should present scientific proof that the polytheistic African ideology our people brought with them on the slave ships — beliefs that had sustained them for thousands of years — is more credible than the white Christian superstitions that we were brainwashed to accept instead.

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